


A New Kind Of Hero

by idiosyncrasiesofme



Category: Banana Bus Squad, The Misfits (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Blood and Injury, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Depression, Everyone Is Gay, Fluff and Angst, Kinda, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:54:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23703454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idiosyncrasiesofme/pseuds/idiosyncrasiesofme
Summary: John has, for his whole life, been told that it is only good or bad, black or white, nothing in between, that there's a hero and a villain. But what happens when someone forces him to change his outlook on life? What happens when he meets someone who opens his eyes to the world beyond his own.Smitty has been shown the good in all people and has seen how sometimes people are forced into a life of crime based on their living situation. He thinks that there is some good in everyone. What happens when he moves to a new city to find a hero who can alter the way his point of view is.
Relationships: Cam | GoodGuyFitz/SwaggerSouls, Evan Fong/Jonathan | H2ODelirious, John | KryozGaming/SMii7Y, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 3
Kudos: 39





	1. A Trip To Remember

**Author's Note:**

> this was originally posted on wattpad, but i'm also posting it here because i don't love wattpad, so the first 3 chapters are already done

*John's POV*

I feel the cold Alaska wind nipping at my uncovered cheeks, making them turn a bright red, I think for a moment how I should have brought a scarf that could cover them, though the would limit my breathing, it would help warm me up. My hands are in my pockets to warm them up a bit, even with the thick gloves I can feel the cold of the air around me.

Right now I'm on a boat with my coworkers in Alaska; we came here on a getaway trip, for some reason, and I thought it would be fun to come along. I'm starting to regret it now though. We traveled to California for a quick three-day visit before getting on a boat to head north towards the biggest state in the country. It took us quite a while to get there, and now that we're here, we're wasting even more time on yet another damned boat.

I work as a video game designer for a popular video game and software development company called SQUIP. I was hired about six years ago, I had been out of college for some time and luckily my friend was able to help me get a job there. I was at college for graphic design and software engineering and, something that had held my passion for quite some time. I was at school in Missouri, where I grew up. While in college, I had internships at places like SQUIP and earned money by working part-time at Starbucks. I'm glad I was able to quit my job there and go on to something I felt more passionate about.

Looking out into the dark and deep waters I feel a sense of calmness and tranquility, I feel like I'm safe. I've always rather enjoyed bodies of water and just water itself, the way that it can flow so calmly and gently, making everything feel good. Or maybe I like the chaos it can cause, tsunamis and hurricanes, storms and floods. I never threw a fit when it was bath time as a child and always was the first one to be up and out of my seat when on a boat to look over the side, so right now everything feels right at home. The boat was a rented out cruise ship that we all took over and made our own. That is until I hear one of my coworkers who was a friend from college, shout from behind me.

"Hey, John! Whatcha thinkin' about!" I turn to look at a short man walking up to me, his hands are in his pockets and he has a balaclava that covers most of his head and mouth, leaving his eyes for the world to see out in the open. Swagger.

"Thinking about you minding your business, sadly it's only a dream." I smile at him and I can see how his eyes form a smile without even having to see his mouth, he's just that expressive.

"I'll have you know that I can just turn around and walk away if you don't want me to be here." He says, sarcastically.

"Don't threaten me with a good time," I say and look back out to the water, pulling my hands from their warm prison so I can rest my arms on the side of the ship. The man beside me fakes a gasp.

"And here I thought we were friends." He says, walking up and situating himself next to me, mirroring my body.

"We're colleagues," I reply.

"Welp I can see where I'm not wanted, so..." He trails off but does not attempt to move, prompting me to turn my head towards him.

"What do you want?" I'm not annoyed by the man's presence, more like I know he came to me because he wanted something, he knows that I like being in my own thoughts.

"I wanted to ask if you were gonna come with me and Cam to check out the hot tub, there's on inside and it's pretty cold out here so I thought you would want to join." Cam is another friend of mine, and he's had a longtime crush on the smaller man before me, though Swagger has yet to notice it. Cam has worked the longest here out of all of us, with Swagger being the one to come here secondly, helping me land a job.

"Nah, I'm good, I like the cold," I say and turn back to the passing glaciers and water.

"Ok, Elsa, suit yourself," He says as he turns to walk back from where he came from.

"Eh, fuck you!" I yell at him, making some people turn their heads, luckily there weren't a lot of people outside at this moment so it wasn't as big of a problem as it could have been if there were more people around and someone took it the wrong way.

I hope that he doesn't go off and ask Craig or Matt to join him or something, I'm pretty sure Cam just wanted to have some alone time with the man. I feel sympathy for the guy, he just wants to spend alone time with the guy he likes, is that too much to ask for?

My mind starts to drift as we pass through the dark and beautiful water of Alaska, places that can only be found in my imagination, that are unique to my thoughts, and that are only limited by my knowledge of the world around me. I think of a world where there's not only more magic but also more tolerance. More reasons for people to join together in harmony and live as one. I imagine mermaids and other aquatic life following us as the boat crosses from bay to open waters. There I am, in my own boat, traveling down the fjords of Norway and there are nymphs and water spirits all around, there to protect me on my journey and their home.

I think about what it would be like to see aurora borealis or aurora australis, either one would be fine, but I'm hoping that while we're here we can see the aurora borealis because it's so close. I wonder what else we could do while we're here. I've always wanted to learn more about the natives and their culture and ways of life so maybe we can head out and find some people willing to talk to us about it.

I'm so engrossed in my thoughts that I didn't hear the ruckus coming from behind me, people shouting and pushing, there's a fight going on that I wasn't aware of and it's getting closer and closer to where I'm standing. They progressively move over to the same side of the ship where I am, resting my body so I'm hanging over the side of the ship just barely as if a child trying to spite their mom. I don't notice the two until one of them is pushed into me at full force, sending me over the side of the boat and into the freezing water below. When I fall I don't make a sound, too shocked to do much of anything. I'm only taken back into when my body hits the frigid waters and starts to sink, wetness soaking through my clothes and reaching my skin, I'm immediately pulled out of the shock and try to swim upward until I realize that I'm not getting anywhere, I feel myself starting to lose air. My chest burns as I move my arms rapidly in my attempt to swim, but the start to grow tired and cold and soon I can't feel anything. I feel my eyes start to close but I try to force them open, eventually, I give into the welcoming sleep and let my body go limp.

Suddenly I can breathe again, and I'm on a hard surface, my eyes open as I shout up, gasping for air. There's pressure surrounding my head like I was under-water, though it wasn't as painful as that. I start to open my eyes, but it takes a few minutes for them to adjust and I have to blink a couple of times before I can see clearly, though my eyes burn like they've been exposed to a bunch of saltwater. I look around to realize I'm in some cave with a bunch of statues surrounding me. But the more I look at it and the more my eyes adjust to the darkness, I see that it's not just a cave, it's more of an astral plane.

All of the statues seem to have specific colors to them with the on my right being one with a cloak that was red, orange, and yellow with a white tunic and white pants that complimented the tan skin of the statue and a crest of a flame in an upward right triangle on the chest, that seemed to be almost burning, and the cloak has some parts of it burnt. The statue looks to be in a battle stance with one foot in front of the other and arms up, a rage-filled look on its face. Looking at its face I realize the eyes are a bright and fiery red. The hair of the statue is long and tied up in a bun, also red.

I look to my left and see the one there has brown skin and is in an entirely green flowy dress that polls at the statue's feet and, from what I can see, there are no shoes on any of the statues. The dress looks to be made of all different shades of green and has the texture of moss. The statue's arms are out in a graceful and welcoming way and the way the dress seems to get wider in the sleeves, making them hang down of the statue's wrists in a beautiful way. The hair of the statue is a dark brown color with green roots, curls falling down its back and some falling in front of the face. Its eyes are closed and there is a peaceful expression. On the chest of the statue is a crest, this time it's a handful of dirt in an upside-down triangle with a line through the bottom.

The one next to the green one is a pale-skinned statue that has a white droopy vest type thing that covers a leather brown corset looking shirt and baggy brown pants. Its clothes, though partly made of leather, looks very airy and breathable. In the middle of the corset is yet another crest, this one has a gust of wind in a triangle much like the first one only this one has a line through the top. My eyes look at the stance and see it's similar to the red one in the foot stance, only now the arms are placed at twelve and six if the head was the center of the clock and a focused look rested on the face, eyes open and glowing white. The hair is also white and very messy like the statue had just gone skydiving.

The last statue is yet another one with pale white skin, adorning black, white, and purple drape type clothes, the colors mixing but never combining if that makes sense, there is a black belt that seems to just be a cloth tied around the statue's waist. The fabric looked like the expanse of space and a white abyss with the purple seeming to represent life in between dark and light. The hair was long and black, falling to the statue's chest and covering most of the face but leaving room to see two different colored eyes, one black and one white, with purple pupils. The stance is equivalent to one of a sorcerer about to cast a spell in that feet were just wider than shoulder-width and two hands are put out in front of the face, one with the palm out and the other behind it in what I believe is a fist. On the palm facing me is a purple circle with an eye in the middle of it. That must be its crest.

As I was looking around, I realized that each one of the statues represented one of the elements: fire, earth, air, and water. The only one I couldn't figure out was the purple, black, and white one, or where the water one was.

It was only then that I felt a presence behind me and then a hand rests itself on my shoulder. I whip my head around to see a tan hand. I quickly pull away and move so that I'm facing where the hand came from and I'm faced with another statue, only this one was moving. It has a blue dress with a train that was shorter in the front, it didn't puff out at all, just flowing like a river. In the dress, there are splashes of white placed randomly, like seafoam. There's a raindrop on its chest in an upside-down triangle, that must be the last crest. The "statue", if I should call it that, has blue and white hair that's just about chin-length the white being only at the tips. It has a soft and almost apologetic look on its face, its blue eyes looking at me with compassion and trust.

I try to back up again but for some reason, I can't seem to move, and I can seem to take my eyes away from the statue that is moving closer and closer to me. I feel a sense of panic and anxiety hit me, what if this thing isn't friendly, what if I died and this is heaven, what if this is hell?

All my thoughts are interrupted when the statue crouches down in front of me and reaches its hand out, caressing my face with care and gentleness. At first, I flinch, but then I feel all my anxiety disappear and soon it's replaced with calmness.

I look into the eyes of this statue and hundreds of questions fill my mind that I need to get out. Now.

"Who are you? Or even better, what are you? And where am I? Is this hell, or heaven? Am I dead?" I start throwing out questions left and right, looking around at the other unmoving statues and wonder if they can move too. The statue in front of me stands and makes its way back to the place I assume it was standing before and moves into a pose where its arms are making a circle around the crest on its chest, and then it stops moving.

Suddenly I start to feel like I'm drowning again, my vision goes blurry and my chest starts to hurt like I can't breathe. Then a wave of something icy fills my veins and I look around and start to see a bright light coming from somewhere around me, so I turn around and the light follows where my eyes go. I feel someone or something, touch my heart and with that touch, I can feel my whole body is being frozen, but it doesn't scare me.

"Wait! I don't know what's going on, please help me, I-I don't know what-"

Everything goes black.


	2. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When he wakes up after the accident, John begins to notice a few things that just seem odd.

Heat.

That's all I feel.

Overwhelming and overbearing heat. It feels like my insides are going to boil.

I try to move whatever is covering my body off me to cool me off but it's so heavy.

My eyes flutter open and immediately I'm blinded by bright lights around me, it's so bright that I have to close them again. I hear a faint beeping noise next to me.

'What the hell is that?' I think. My eyes open, still squinting and adjusting to the light. I look around the room that I'm in, it looks like a hospital room or something. I look over to my left and see a heart monitor and follow the wires to my chest. 'What happened?'

I try to remember what happened before but all I can seem to find as I scoured my mind was a vague image of me being pushed off the side of the boat and into the freezing waters before passing out, only it looked like it was in the third person. The only thing that I can vividly remember was feeling like ice was flowing through my whole body and surrounding my body in a blanket of cold, but it didn't feel bad, more like a protective blanket.

Speaking of hot and cold, I realize the heat I was feeling is the weighted blanket that was wrapped around my body. Of course, so that I don't overheat, I push the blanket off my body, finding the task difficult with me being weaker than usual. Soon the heat is away from me and I lay in the uncomfortable bed just thinking.

My thoughts are interrupted when someone walks into the room with a clipboard and a blue scrubs on. The man looks up from whatever he was doing and notices me, his eyes widening.

"You're up? We thought it would take more than a day for you to wake up. Let me do some check-ups before I get the doctor." He says and sets the clipboard on a table at the foot of the bed. I sit up and his eyes get wider. "You should be lying down, Sir, you still need to rest."

"I feel fine," I say, irritated slightly.

"Well, I still have a job to do no matter what you 'feel', and anyway you might still be in shock." The man says, walking over to me and pushing me back down on the bed. "You were in the water for a good 10-15 minutes before we found you, you seemed to have drifted under the ice, it was very dangerous."

He puts a hand to my forehead before making a face and pulling it away and grabbing a thermometer.

"What?" I ask, studying him as he tells me to open my mouth and he put the thermometer under my tongue.

"Nothing, it's just that you seem colder than you should be," The thermometer makes a noise, the nurse pulls it out and looks in shock at the numbers on the screen. "Well that's not normal," He mumbles.

"What isn't normal? What happened? Am I going to be ok?" More questions than ever fly through my head as I try to figure out what's going to happen to me.

"Well, sir, it looks like you still have hypothermia, I'm not sure how you're up and functioning but you still have a temperature of 95°F that's not normal. I'll have to do some more tests and call the doctor in here to take a look at you before we can let you go." I stared in shock at him. I know I don't have hypothermia, I feel fine like nothing happened. "Also, you should be warming yourself up with that blanket, it's cold in here."

"This is cold? I was burning up with that thing on." I said gesturing to the heavy blanket that was now at the foot of the bed in a pile.

"Hmmm, well I still need to check in with the doctor. I'll be back soon." Then he leaves, taking the clipboard with him, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Though I'm not alone for long.

"JOHN!" I hear a booming voice cry out as the door suddenly opens again. "Holy shit man." Swagger and Cam walk into the room, the short man looking even shorter due to the tree that was next to him. The size difference was comical and always prevalent no matter the situation. Swagger seemed to still be wearing the balaclava, he wasn't one to always want to show his face around, but it must get hot. Neither of them had on their outside clothes so they must have been inside for a while.

"What happened, mate? All we heard was you took a fall off the deck and into the water. Give us details." The kiwi says as they both take the seats that were next to the bed presumably for guests.

"I wouldn't be the one to ask, I think some guys were having a fight and one of 'em ended up pushing me off the side of the boat," I explain to them as they nod along.

"That sucks, but you could probably sue that guy for something," Cam said while pointing at both me, then Swagger and then back to me again.

"Yeah, but I wasn't hurt so I doubt I can get very far in court."

"Damn that sucks, I wanted to get some money," Cam said, smiling.

"The hell I wouldn't let you get any of my money, I know how fast you go through that shit." I look at him with a 'you know I'm right' kind of look, calling him out on his bullshit. Swagger just laughs and pushes Cam's shoulder, to which the taller smiles widely.

"He called you out, dude!" He said, still laughing.

"Like you're any better." I retort looking directly at the shorter man next to me.

"Wow, way to throw me under the bus." Swagger's voice and face gives away that he wasn't mad at me. I smile at the two before turning my head to look out the window, seeing that the sky was dark and there were stars out, a lot of stars. "Hey, what time is it?"

"It is...10 pm, you were out for a good few hours, though the doctors said it could be up to two days before you woke up," Cam said as he, presumably, looked at his phone, I wouldn't know because I was still looking out the window. I feel lucky that I have a window, most rooms probably don't have that.

"Yeah, how the fuck are you awake?" Swagger asks and I turn to them.

"I have no clue, I had a weird dream though." I mumble the last part, remembering the statues and the "crests", I'll have to look up what those mean when I get out of here.

"About?"

"I-" I don't get to finish my sentence because someone in a white lab coat enters the room with the nurse from before following close behind her.

"Excuse me sirs, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave, for now, I have to check up on Mr. Keyes here." I cringe inwardly at the use of my last name.

"Ok, we'll be back John," The two get up and exit the room.

"Now, Mr. Keyes-" I cut her off.

"Please, Mr. Keyes is my dad, just John is fine," I say, and the doctor nods and writes something down on her clipboard.

"Well, John, I'm Doctor Satyarthi, and it says here that you fell into waters that were below freezing and that you were under for about 15-20 minutes, with that information I'm honestly flabbergasted that it only took you a few hours to recover, so tell me how you're feeling." Dr. Satyarthi says, looking down at the clipboard for a second before looking at me with concern.

"I feel fine, not cold or even sick, just like how I did before I was pushed off the boat," I say, telling her exactly what I told the nurse.

"Ok, I'm going to do a classic check-up now, you know, reflexes and stuff like that." I nod ad move my legs so they're dangling off the bed which was raised so that my feet didn't reach the floor.

The doctor starts checking everything, my ears, eyes, mouth, reflexes and all that then asks the nurse to get a syringe to take my blood to run a test on it as she takes my vitals.

"It looks like your blood pressure is fine and so is everything else, we're just going to take some blood and if nothing comes up then we can let you go, it's quite a miracle that you weren't hurt, though you temperature is worrisome if we can't find anything that indicates you're sick then we have to let you go." She says and takes the syringe and a wet towelette to clean the needle and my arm. She takes the blood and sends it to the lab to do some tests and then asks me more questions that may pertain to how I'm feeling or what we can do.

"So the lab work just came back, and everything looks normal. The only thing that might keep you here is your temperature, but since that doesn't seem to be harmful to your overall health then we don't have any reason to not let you leave," She grabs a bag of things and places it on the edge of the bed. "Here are your clothes, I'll leave the room so you can change and once you're done just wait for me to lead you out to your friends."

I smile and thank her before she leaves. I take off the gown I was most likely put in when they got me here and start to put in my pants and shirt when something catches my eye in a nearby mirror.

A tattoo in the shape of an upside-down triangle on the small of my back, it's a dark blue color and there's a teardrop in the middle, just like the one I saw in my dream. This wouldn't be weird if I had a tattoo before but I've never gotten a tattoo in my life. Now I have to know what it means.

I finish getting dressed and sit back down on the bed and wait for a few minutes before Dr. Satyarthi comes back in and leads me to the front desk where Swagger and Cam are waiting, along with Craig, Matt, and my manager. I walk over to my friends and try to talk to them but I'm interrupted by the manager.

"John, we are so sorry that this happened and it's company policy to pay for your hospital bill since the accident happened while you were technically on company property and company time." He informs me. "And if you do decide to press charges on the person who pushed you then we will help you through the lawsuit. You're also getting two weeks to recover, along with the rest of the retreat time, full pay."

With that said, the manager leaves and I turn back to my friends who are all looking at me with anticipation in their eyes.

"Lucky bitch," Craig says after a few seconds of silence.

"What?" I say and look at him.

"Not the falling of a boat into frigid waters part but the getting two weeks from work." He clarified. "And you don't even need to stay in the hospital, you can go home and play video games or sleep or something."

"I work with video games as my job, if you think I'm going to go home and play games and constantly see the flaws in them then you are absolutely right, I also have a few things I've been meaning to look up and shit so," I say and start to make my way out of the building with everyone following me, we walk out to the car that Matt had driven them all in, talking about nothing, but I'm slightly distracted by the thought of the tattoo and of the dream that I had. Why did I have that dream, or was it even a dream at all? No, that's stupid, it had to have been a dream, right?

I shake the thought out of my head and look out the window as the scenery goes by, sitting in the silent the car as we drive through the state to the hotel we were all staying at.

"Hey, can you turn up the heat?" I hear Swagger say from his seat next to me in the car. I look at him confused for a second, he's shivering slightly, then I look at the others and see that most if not all of them are also shivering. But, the car seems fine to me.

"I can try," Matt says and reaches to change the temperature, making the car heat up quickly, everyone in the car seems to relax but I start to heat up, and not in a good way. I start to sweat and feel light-headed so I roll down the window a bit.

"Dude, it's fucking freezing in here, close it," Craig said from behind me in the third row. I turned to him before flipping him off and turning back to the landscape. "If we all freeze it's your fault."

I roll my eyes and try to ignore everyone, closing my eyes for a second and suddenly images of life-like statues and an astral plane fill my mind, my eyes shoot open and I look around, noticing that we're now in the city. How long were my eyes closed? Nevermind that.

We pull up to a large hotel, large for the middle of Alaska, and park in the garage before getting out, Matt heads to the back of the car and pulls out a bag, my bag, it's all the things that I had on the boat, luckily I didn't have my phone or my hotel key card on me when I fell. We enter the hotel and make our ways to the elevator, pressing the floor we, and the rest of the employees, were staying on and head to our respective rooms. I'm so glad I got a single bed and not a double.

Once I say goodbye to the guys and close the door, I open the bag and pull out my laptop, and immediately start to look up what the symbols might be. I lookup _Triangle symbol_ at first nothing comes up, but then I move over to the images and lo and behold there it is, exactly what I saw: a right-side-up triangle, one the same as that with a line through it, an upside-down triangle, and the one same as that with a line through it, or fire, air, water, and earth. The only one I didn't see was the circle, so I did a bit more searching and what do you know, the circle represents spirit. Not the "GO TEAM" kind of spirit but like the "What's in your soul?" kind of spirit.

But now the question is, what exactly happened when I was under the water? And why do I have a tattoo of the symbol for water on my back with a teardrop in it? What does any of this mean?

Questions float through my head as I shut the laptop and walk over to my suitcase and pull out some sweatpants that are light blue, black, and dark blue, the colors almost flow from one to the other as they move down the pant leg, I take off the shirt I was wearing and walk over to the light switch, turning off the light and making my way over to the bed before collapsing into it.

I feel too hot to pull the full duvet over me, so I just pull the top sheet over my body. I start to feel myself drift off almost immediately which surprises me, after all, I had just woken up from a pretty long nap less than 3 hours ago. Even with that, I still feel my body start to relax as it starts to feel like I'm floating in a boat or on a raft in calm waters, that's what lulls me to sleep with a thought of _"What the hell was today?"_ On my mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's the second chapter, i have one more that finished after this one so i might wait until the next one is halfway done to post it but here ya go


	3. Something's Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things seem to be getting even weirder for John as he realizes that maybe something happened to him while underwater. Swagger is there to help him through this revelation that causes him panic.

The rest of the retreat was uneventful, I was prohibited from leaving the city or even my room unless I was accompanied by a friend, so I spent most of my time at the hotel doing work or playing video games. Sometimes one of the guys would invite me over to hang out in their rooms and we would play random games and talk. I told them about the dream I had had while I was passed out, everyone seemed to think that it was as weird as I thought it was which made me feel a bit better. What I didn't tell them about was how I somehow had a tattoo on my back, I don't know why I didn't tell them, it might be easier for someone else to know, I just couldn't even begin to explain it.

That night when I went back to my room and flopped down onto the bed, my hands covering my face and rubbing my eyes with the palms of my hands. I lift my head slightly and push my hair back, moving my hands through my hair and resting them on my neck. My hands are nice and cold on my skin, it's calming.

"God, I should probably shower," I say to myself and stand up, getting used to the change in altitude before reaching over my head and pulling off my shirt. I place my hand on my back where the tattoo is, it feels colder than my fingers. Odd. I remove my pants and walk to the bathroom, grabbing my shampoo and conditioner on the way, and take off my boxers. I turn to look at myself in the mirror but, like before at the hospital, I'm surprised by what I see.

My hair is longer, and it's also blonde. It falls to just below my chin and looks almost bleached. But that's not the thing that catches my eyes, that award belongs to, well, my eyes. They're white. No pupil or iris, just the sclera. When I look closer, there aren't even veins, only white.

I reach my hands up to touch my hair, my mouth wide open. My hands reach my hair and I play with the stand of blond for a second before they drop to my side.

"I must be hallucinating," I whisper to myself and decide to just take a shower so it'll hopefully wear off. I turn the hot water knob and let the water heat up, after a minute I reach in to feel the water. Once the water touches my skin though, I have to pull my hand away. The water was boiling. I look at where the water hurt me and the skin was turning red as if I had burned myself. I place my other hand over it and suddenly the hand feels cold so I move my hand away and the wound is healed. I decide to dwell on it later and reach into the shower to change the temperature, making it a lot colder, actually turning off the hot water entirely and only using the cold water. It didn't feel cool though, it felt nice and comforting, a lot like how I felt when the statue touched me in my dream. I shake my head and continue to wash my hair and body.

When I step out of the shower I look into the mirror and see the same bleach-blond hair and white eyes. I ignore it and blame it on me being tired, so I dry off my hair and body with a towel and put on a clean pair of boxers and pajama pants, walking over to the bed. I turn off the lights and then lay down pressing the palm of my hands to my eyes and pulling them down my face and sighing, rolling onto my side and falling asleep.

My vision is dark but there's a sound or a voice, it's saying something though I can't quite make it out, it sounds like a different language, but I feel like I should know it. I look around and find a source of light, I can't tell where the light is coming from though. I try to run toward the light but it's like my legs can't work anymore no matter how hard I push them, I get nowhere.

The voice and light begin to fade and I reach my hand out to the object until it fully disappears.

Suddenly a new voice starts speaking, I can't tell where it's coming from but it's getting louder and louder until I can hear it clearly.

"JOHN, WAKE UP!" Swagger. My eyes open to my hotel room that's being filled with light from the window. I would say that it's nice if it weren't for the excessive banging coming from the door. I sit up and blink my eyes a couple of times before I hear Swagger's loud voice again. "WE'RE ALL WAITING FOR YOU."

"Shut up! I can hear you!" I shout back to him, reaching next to me to grab my phone and check the time. 9:17. Today's the last day of the retreat so I'm guessing the guys had something planned for today. I stand up and walk to the door, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes in the process. I grab the door handle and pull open the door, seeing my friend standing there with an annoyed expression.

"Fucking finally, I've been here..for....a um..." He trails off and stares at me, his annoyance falling away with confusion taking its place. "When did you, uh...?" He gestures to his hair and eyes vaguely.

Realization hits me and suddenly I'm not tired. I bolt to the bathroom, leaving the other man alone at the door. I peer into the mirror and, surprise surprise, my eyes are still white and my hair is still blond. I thought that was a dream. I turn around and come face to face with a confused Eric. I make a surprised noise.

"Dude, what happened? Why are you so freaked out?" He asks. I turn back to the mirror and rub my eyes to make sure I'm not dreaming. When I open my eyes again, they're back to their normal blue-green color. This just makes me even more confused.

"I have no idea what's going on, did uh, were my eyes-"

"White? Yeah, care to explain that? Also when and why did you dye your hair bleach-blond?" He cut me off.

"Again, I don't know why they were white and I didn't, last night when I went to take a shower my hair was blond and my eyes were white, and they didn't go back. My eyes only changed back when I rubbed them...wait," I think back to the previous night. "I'm gonna try something."

I close my eyes and lift my hands to my hair, pushing the strands out of my face and moving my hands back my head to rest on the back of my neck. I hear the man beside me gasp making me open my eyes to see that my hair had gone back to its original dark brown color.

"Ok, what the fuck," Swagger speaks up after a moment of silence. "Am I going crazy? Or did you just change your hair color and length using magic?" I turn to look at him.

"I have no fucking clue what I did." I start to pace but Swagger stops me.

"Another question: since when did you have a tattoo?" I remember that I'm shirtless and quickly turn to face my friend.

"Ok, this is going to sound insane but-"

"You literally just did real magic, I don't think anything would sound insane to me at this point."

"It appeared on me after I woke up from the boat accident, and apparently it means 'water'." He just stares at me. I look over to the sink and turn on the water, leaning down and splashing my face to try and ground myself before taking a breath. I felt calmer now than before with the sound of the water running and feeling it on my face, dripping into the sink. I kept my eyes closed as I let the calmness flow through my body, trying to take deep breaths to make sure I stay grounded. Then Swagger speaks up, but his voice is muffled, in fact, everything sounds a bit muted.

I open my eyes and turn to face the other man but it looks like I'm looking at him while underwater. It shocks me. Then water comes cascading down my head and on to the bathroom floor. I stare down at my feet for a moment, which is soaked, the water surrounding me before I look back up at Eric.

"I think I need to sit down. Holy shit." I reach up to grab my head, sudden pain pulsing through my brain. I let out a groan and lean on the counter, gripping the edge, my knuckles turning white.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." Swagger walks over to me and helps me over to the bed where I sit down, still drenched and confused. Once I sit down, Swagger pulls out a chair from the desk and sits down in front of me. "This might sound insane but...I think you have superpowers?" He said, phrasing it as more of a question than anything. I just look forward, staring at nothing in particular.

How can I have superpowers? I mean why would I have superpowers? I'm sure there's someone out there that is way more qualified than I am, someone who studies comic books and stuff, or someone who already works with the law. Why-how can a video game developer be a superhero?

I guess my parents did raise me to be the best me? But I still don't know why that would have anything to do with me being a superhero and having superpowers. Does this explain that dream I had while I was unconscious? Was that a dream? Or maybe, just maybe, I was transported to a different realm or plane of being than this one where I encountered a primordial entity that gave me these powers for a reason. Or maybe I've always had the powers and they just finally "woke up" so to speak? Is this a gift or is it a curse? Will I have to save the world? I don't think I'm ready for that sort of commitment, I mean, I can barely hold a relationship with another person, let alone the entire world.

Maybe this is a good thing? Maybe now I can finally live my childhood dream of being a superhero? Maybe now I can help the city in more ways than I ever could have without powers. But it's not like there's more crime in Seattle than anywhere else, in fact, I think there's less crime than in comparison to somewhere like Detroit. So maybe there will be no need for these powers. Maybe I can use them to go viral? But what if the government wants to take me away and do experiments on me? What if I never see my family and friends again? And what would they do if they couldn't find anything? Would they just kill me or lock me up in Area 51?

"JOHN!" My head shoots up. When did I start looking down and why do my clothes feel heavier? I see Swagger standing directly in front of me with his arms crossed over his chest like he was cold and shivering, when he breathes I can see a puff of steam escape his lips. He looks worried. "Dude you spaced out and the temperature just fucking dropped."

"Did...did I do that?" I ask I can't tell a difference from before.

"I think so," He nods. I think back to the previous night, how the water burned my hand and I was able to heal the burn with a touch. What is happening to me? "You froze the water on your clothes, how are you not freezing?" He reaches out to touch my hand only to pull away quickly as if he had burned himself.

"You're colder than me! How the fuck are you not feeling that?" All I can do is shrug, it was definitely a few degrees colder but from how Swagger was acting, it was probably much colder than what it felt like to me. After that, he sat back down and pondered something.

"Ok, I have a theory on what happened." I just looked at him to tell him to keep going. He grabs a sweatshirt that was wrapped around his waist and puts it on before continuing, "So this all started when you fell off the boat right? So maybe that triggered these things, or maybe you like fell into chemically filled water and got superpowers from that."

"The tour guide said that the water hadn't been as clean as it was in over 20 years, so I doubt it was chemicals," I remind him, he probably wasn't paying attention for the most part when the person was talking about the land and, more specifically, the water.

"Oh, ummmmmmm you've always had these powers and only now you're using them?" His voice seemed to get higher while saying that, like it was the biggest lie he's ever said.

"Oh yeah, I just hadn't noticed the white eyes or the water and cold shit until just now, coincidentally right after I fell into a freezing lake and had a dream where I met some god type person," I say, mostly sarcastically.

"Wait, what if it wasn't a dream? What if you actually met a god who gave you these powers?"

"That somehow seems more plausible than the 'already had them' theory, but it still wouldn't answer the question of why or what I do now."

"I think that's for you to decide. For now, we can just relax and enjoy our last day here with the others." As he says this I start to relax but then realization hits me like a boat.

"Oh god, what do I tell the others? Do I tell the others?" I look up to Swagger with hope that he would know what to do, but why would he, I doubt this has ever happened to him before.

"Let's not tell anyone, for now, it can be like our secret, does this make us best friends?" He asked which made me laugh, and in a time like this, it's just what I needed.

"I thought we were already pretty close dude."

"Yeah but now we're keeping each other's secrets."

"Hey wait, now I need to know one of your secrets, y'know, the principle of equivalent exchange,"

"What is this Fullmetal Alchemist?" He paused before sighing and continuing. "Do I have to?"

"No, it was a joke dude, my secret may be big but it's definitely something I have to share with someone, and who better to tell then my geeky friend who could probably do better as a superhero than me."

"I'm not even geeky you cunt, and you don't even have to be a superhero, the amount of crime back in Seattle is lower than most cities." He points out, standing up and walking to the door.

"I guess," I also stand after a moment and walk over to where he was holding the door open for me before I pause, "Wait, I should probably change, you can wait in here if you want." I grab a shirt and pants and walk into the bathroom, also snatching a nearby towel to wipe up the water at my feet. After that, I got out of the frozen clothes and put on the new ones, nothing special today, just a long-sleeved button-up with small designs on it and some jeans.

When I walk out of the bathroom, Swagger is still standing at the door on his phone, I grab some shoes and soon, we're out the door and on the way to the lobby of the building to where the rest of the group is gathered.

"I managed to get this fucker up with minimal resistance." Swagger looks at me with a look of "just go with it".

"Hey, it's not my fault I didn't get much sleep last night." I defended myself.

"Well you're here now, and we can finally get out and do shit," Cam says, standing up from the couch he was sitting on, the shorter going to stand next to him.

"Where's Matt?" I look around noticing the lack of a certain man.

"He went to get a few shots of the landscapes and photography stuff." Cam waved his hand around to gesture. I nod and we start to walk to the door. Once we're all out everyone puts on a heavier layer, apart from me.

"John how the fuck are you not cold? You could get sick and end up in the hospital again." Cam, the dad he is, says.

"Like a cold would get me into the hospital, and anyway I got thick skin, I'm all good." I look up to the tall man, a look of disbelief crossing his face before he shrugs and turns to start walking towards where I assume we're going. "Hey, what are we gonna do?"

"You'll see,"

"Vague bitch," I mutter the last part to myself as we continue down the streets.

The day goes by and we do typical tourist crap like go to see the sights and a museum, it was more fun than I thought it would be though. Who knew that learning about a culture and history could be fun? Once we're back at the hotel we have to pack our shit and head down to the lobby for a headcount. Seen as the flight was at 8 pm, we had to be out of the hotel by 5 so we could get to the flight on time.

The plane had to go through some rain, but that's expected, as we're going to Seattle. I don't love the turbulence but it's not as bad as it could be, and the plane didn't crash so that's good. We land at around 11:45 and I get to my car at 12:15 after grabbing a croissant from Starbucks and saying goodbye to my friends.

When I finally get home it's already 1 am and I'm exhausted. I head to my room and fall into the bed like a sack of potatoes, kicking off my shoes and socks and falling asleep right after that. For the first time since I had the accident, I slept well, not having any form of dream or vision or whatever. It's nice.

I woke up the next morning to the sound of my roommate, Jay, playing a game, most likely with a few of our friends. I sit up and realize that I'm still in yesterday's clothes, so I move over to my closet and look at the assortment of clothes that I have. Most of my nice clothes are still packed away in my suitcase so, like me, they are not in the closet. I chuckle at the stupidity of my terrible joke and turn around to where the bag was sitting against the bed.

Before I open it to pull out something to wear, I feel a buzz coming from my pocket, I must have forgotten to take it out before falling asleep, which also means that I didn't charge it.

After groaning at my stupidity I pulled out my phone and saw Craig had texted me.

_Hey dude, can you get on a call for a quick minute?_

_yeah sure, i just woke up one sec_

_Dude it's nearly 2 pm_

_it do be like that tho_

I turn off my phone after that and head over to my computer, turning it on for the first time since being back and opening discord. I see how Craig is already on and is hanging out in a voice chat, most likely waiting for me.

"Wassup fucker," I say once I get set up and into the actual call.

"Man, you sound like you just woke up, you need more sleep dude."

"Sure thing, mom,"

"I'm not your mom,"

"Yeah ok, by the way, how's dad?" I tease him with a smile on my face.

"Who would be the dad if I were the mom?" He asked, sounding like he genuinely wanted to know.

"Probably Tyler, if I'm being honest." I can hear him sputter out something, most likely denying it, but we both know that he wouldn't mind being with Tyler in that way. "Was that all you wanted to talk to me about?"

He composed himself before answering. "I had something else I needed to ask you. You remember Evan right? Evan Fong?"

"Canasian? Musician? That guy, right?" I think back to when I was introduced to him at a party that was held at Craig's house. He was nice and we talked about video games.

"That's him,"

"What about him?"

"He has a friend coming in from Canada, says that you two have similar senses of humor and he wanted his friend to meet someone who could be another friend before he moves to Seattle." I hum in acknowledgment at that and he continues, "He's gonna be arriving at the airport soon and I thought maybe we could all go to a café or something and meet the guy."

"So you want me to come with you to meet someone who's a friend of someone I know because he says that we have similar senses of humor?" I say as I point out how odd what he just said was.

"...Well, when you put it like that."

"I'm coming, by the way, I just wanted you to know how weird it sounds." I laugh and sit up from where I was, slumped in my chair, adjusting my headphones and looking down at my hands before looking back at the screen.

"Ok, well I'll text Evan and tell him to meet us at the café and send you the address."

"Sounds good, later man."

"Later." And with that, I exit the call and sigh, and look around my room and then at myself, I'll have to change before I leave. Yet another sigh makes it's way from my lips as I stand up from the chair and start to walk over to the suitcase and pull out a black and yellow shirt and some black pants, throwing them on and going to brush my teeth. When I get back to my room I see a text from Craig of a location, that must be the cafe.

_Guess I should get going._ I think to myself and text Jay where I'll be, heading out to my car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the last of the already written chapters, so now i have to actually go and write the next one. thanks for reading this so far, i have big plans for the next few parts.


	4. Meeting A Milkbag

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> and the two finally meet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it took me forever to get this done, but here it is and i'm proud of it

When I arrive at the cafe, it's practically empty save for the few employees, some people typing vigorously on laptops, and two people sitting near the back of the establishment. One of the people in the back looked up when I walked in, I recognized his face, he's kind of hard to forget. He smiles at me and waves me over, standing to greet me as I get closer to the two.

"Hey John, long time no see," Evan says as he reaches out a hand for me to grab to be pulled into a hug, I gladly took it, smiling at the Asian man.

"Yeah, it's good to see you again," I say before my eyes drift over to the other man that was still sitting at the table. He was cute, his round face really complementing the mop of brown curls on the top of his head, hair the same color as his eyes. My gay is showing. His smile seemed like he was semi-uncomfortable, and it makes sense as to why; a person he doesn't know shows up and talks to his friend like he isn't there. And he's in a new city and new country nonetheless, it must be a bit scary for someone. "You must be the guy Craig was telling me about, I'm John." I stick out my hand for the guy to shake it. He takes it, his smile seeming more genuine now that he felt more a part of the conversation.

"And you're the guy that Evan was telling me about, Smitty."

"Oh, so now he's spreading rumors about me? Guess I can't trust Canadians." I say in a sort of "welp" voice.

"Eh, fuck you, I'm Canadian, you racist bitch ass." He moves a hand to press against his chest in mock offense. I just continue along with my charade.

"Oh god, they're multiplying, I'm gonna have to call in the extraction squad," I say to myself, the man in front of me just laughs.

"Ah, so he's a dumbass, good to know." The man in front of me says, looking over to Evan who was watching the whole ordeal go down.

"Yeah, it's kind of a gift, I don't know how he manages to live without a brain, it's tragic really," Evan speaks up, opening his mouth to say something else before a ringtone cuts him off. He pulls out his phone and looks at the name, his smile grows a bit at what he sees before he looks back up at us. "I'm sorry, my friend, Del, is calling, I have to take this," I nod but I can see that Smitty rolled his eyes at the mention of the name.

When Evan is out of earshot, the other man leans over the table with an annoyed look on his face.

"Ok, so that son of a bitch hasn't shut up about this 'Delirious' guy ever since they started talking, which was like two months ago. I never knew anyone could have so much to say about someone or to them either." I raise an eyebrow at him.

"So what are you suggesting?" I say, leaning into the table a bit more, my arms crossed and elbows resting on the tabletop.

"I think Mr. Perfect over there, has a crush on this guy, whoever he is." He says with a devious look on his face.

"I think I see what you're saying." I nod along, he must want to tease the Asian man when he gets back from his call. "So did you come here for work? Craig didn't tell me much about you."

"No, actually I was hated back in Canada for not worshiping maple syrup and mooses." The man in front of me says with a straight face which made me almost believe him before he started laughing. I began to laugh along with him. "I actually came here on a transfer for the non-profit I work for that helps people who don't have a home and are down on their luck. We also help people get out of domestic abuse." I nod as he answers my question more seriously.

"So you like helping people?"

"Yeah, I always did a lot of community and charity work back home."

"Well you're like the best human being then, you're like an everyday superhero." At that a blush appeared on Smitty's face and he smiled at me. Wow, I really want to see that face more often. He really looked good with a blush.

"It's really just what I feel is the right thing to do." Goddamn that's cute. I end up staring at him for a moment as he looks down in front of him. We sit in silence for a few seconds before he clears his throat. "So what do you do?" It snaps me out of the trance I seemed to be in.

"Oh, I work as a graphic designer for the company SQUIP," I explain and see his eyes light up.

"There have been some really good games that come from SQUIP, do you play?" I laugh at that.

"Do I play? Hell yes, it's my favorite pastime." I explain.

"Awesome, we're going to get along just fine, I play whenever I'm not working basically. I've met some of my closest friends online." His smile was so wide and seemed genuine.

"We should play together sometime," I suggest, hoping that maybe I could get his number before we part ways.

"That sounds good with me, I can give you my number so we can talk more about it." He must have either read my mind or he wanted my number too. I pull out my phone and open the contacts, handing him the phone so he can put in his information. He takes it and starts typing something in, presumably his number.

When he hands me my phone I look and see that he named himself "Milk bag", it makes me laugh.

"Milk bag? Really?"

"Hey, it's an important part of my culture." He crosses his arms across his chest and fakes a face of offense. I'm about to make a comment but a voice interrupts me.

"Are you two done flirting?" Evan asks, done with his call. I look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You're one to talk, loverboy, how's Del?" I put an emphasis on the nickname and his tan face flushes a light red and he sits down again next to Smitty.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, anyway, look who finally decided to show up." He quickly changed the subject, pointing to the front of the shop where Craig and Tyler had just entered, talking about something. I was sad that we wouldn't get to tease Evan but now we could tease Craig for bringing Tyler. Evan stood to greet his friends, pulling Tyler in for a hug and doing the same with Craig.

"Hey, sorry we're late, someone insisted he come along." Craig turned to look at the man next to him. They both took a seat next to me on the booth, luckily there was quite a bit of room so we weren't squished.

"You asked if I wanted to come," Tyler said, exasperated. Craig just crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. "You literally said 'I'm going to meet up with Evan, John and Evan's friend, do you want to come?' you cannot be mad that I said yes."

"Get exposed, bitch," Smitty spoke up, seemingly enjoying the scene almost as much as I was. I snorted and Evan looked like he was trying to hold in a laugh.

"Thank you, Evan's friend."

"You're welcome, Evan's other friend, and my name is actually Smitty."

"Tyler and this annoying shit is Craig." He says and Craig smiles brightly.

"I'm not that annoying." And with that comment, everyone who knows Craig makes noises of "eh" and "well". "Oh come on, I will fight all of you with my bare fists."

"You have bear fists?" The simultaneous reply comes from both my mouth and Smitty's, we look at each other for a second before we burst out laughing. Everyone else around us either laughs or just stares at us with a look that says they are done with us already.

"Ok, well we should probably order something to eat or drink," Evan said after his giggles died down and he went to stand to head to the front of the bakery. "Who's coming with me?" Everyone stands up as well and we walk to the counter, Smitty being first and me behind him.

"Hi, what can I get for you today?" The barista asks the man in front of me.

"Hi, I'll have a medium hot chocolate please." He says and the woman working behind the counter bats her eyelashes at him, it makes me frown. Is she flirting with him?

"Coming right up, that'll be $5.99." She smiles at him with a look in her eyes that just screamed bedroom eyes. For some reason, this made me mad, who was she to be flirting with Smitty, she should be working and not flirting with customers. I start to clench my fist as she turns with the cup to go and start the drink.

Sadly I can't keep my eye on her for long because another barista comes to take my order. I tell her what I would like, iced coffee, and pay for the drink. The barista called out to her coworker to come and get my drink ready, I looked over to her as she took my cup and went to start filling it with ice.

"Uh, Grace, can you come here?" She asks, looking at the icebox with a confused look.

"What happened?" Grace says, leaving Craig at the cash register without getting his order.

"The ice is all stuck together."

"What? How?" Grace asks, looking over her coworkers shoulder and I realize that my hand is still clenched so I unclench it and take a breath.

"How the fuck?" The first barista says, staring at the ice with wide eyes, Grace doing the same thing.

"Ok, well, just get the drinks ready, I don't know what just happened but we have jobs to do." Grace walks back over to where Craig was and takes his order. I made my way over to where Smitty was standing, waiting for his drink. I go to talk but someone cuts me off.

"Hot chocolate?" The barista says to Smitty, holding his drink out for him to take, which he does and he takes a sip of his drink. The barista then calls out my drink and I take it from her hands and turn to see that Smitty had already walked back to the table. I go to follow him but someone puts their hand on his shoulder. It's Craig.

"Do you know what happened to the ice earlier? That was crazy." I shake my head at him, wanting to walk over to Smiity again.

"I mean, it was probably some freak thing or something." Craig just slowly nods and starts to walk back to the Canadian. I think about what happened earlier, how the lady was only confused when my fist was clenched, and how whatever happened stopped after I released it. Maybe... no, that's stupid, but maybe?

"What were you two being so quiet about? Are you secret agents that are on an undercover mission?" Smitty asks as soon as we get to our seats again. He must have a wild imagination for that to be the first thing he thought. But I mean, if he wanted to know the truth he would have to really have a wild imagination, cause superpowers don't just happen.

"Nah, Craig here was just saying that he wanted to have some alone time with Tyler later on," I say, nudging the man sitting next to me whose face was now a bright shade of red. Smitty makes a face of understanding and nods.

"What, I didn't say that!" He tries to retort but his face shows that he was at least thinking about it. Maybe I can also read minds. Now that would be something.

"Mhm, and next thing you're going to say is that Evan isn't in love with this Delirious person," Smitty says.

"I am not in love with him, he's a friend." Evan cuts in, coming to sit next to the other Canadian, his face also a shade of red.

"Ok Evan," I say sarcastically and it only makes his face turn even redder. Smitty and I laugh at the two blushing men and high five each other just as Tyler sits down with his drink in hand.

"Ok, why are these two blushing? What did you do?" He asks, looking between the two of us and the two flustered men. Craig was looking at me and Smitty with anger in his eyes while also trying to hide his face from Tyler.

"Oh, we did nothing, unless we said something that you want to tell Tyler," I say and the two of them immediately shake their heads, Craig's face getting even redder if that was even possible.

"On second thought, it was nothing, just them being annoying," Evan says.

"It was a terrible idea to introduce these two ." Craig looks so done with me, and I can't blame him.

The next hour or so is filled with conversation about video games and personal lives, we all get to know Smitty a bit better while he gets to know us a bit. We had finished our drinks a while ago but we didn't get up to leave for another 20 minutes or so. It seemed we all got along, like we already knew each other, with how much we joked around you would think that we were all childhood friends or something.

But eventually, Evan had to go for a work thing and Tyler and Craig decided to head out together seen as Craig had driven both of them. We all said goodbye, and then there were two.

"So," Smitty says, not knowing what to say, I honestly don't know what to say either. "It was nice to meet you."

"Aww, you're leaving? And here I thought we were having fun." This elicits a face of "is that a challenge?" from him.

"Alright, what do you want us to do? You live here, show the new guy around." He says, standing up and stretching his back from sitting so long. I follow suit and start leading the man out of the bakery and onto the sidewalk.

"Well, I'm barely outside, but that doesn't mean I don't know some nice places to go," I say as we walk down the sidewalk, the sky a light grey, like usual, I wouldn't expect anything more from Seattle.

"There's a really nice park near here, I go there when I want to get outside and it's not raining," I say, looking at the man next to me who I found was already looking at me.

"Speaking of which, how often does it actually rain here, cause there's the stereotype that it's always raining but how true is that?" He asks, looking genuinely curious at the climate of the city he just moved to.

"Well, it's not _always_ raining, but I'd say it rains about 45% of the year, so the stereotype is pretty far off," I explain, having lived in Seattle for most of my adult life, I would hope that I know the weather patterns. He nods at that and we walk in silence for the next four minutes, but it didn't feel awkward, it was kinda nice to not want to fill the silence with small talk or anything.

When we get to the park, it's practically empty except for a few people on benches or walking their dogs. I'm not too surprised that no one is around, it's the middle of the day on a Thursday so most people are either at work or school. But this just means that we have more of the open space for ourselves.  
  
The park was pretty big and had multiple different parts to it, ranging from a small playground to a picnic area to even a small lake that people can go boating in if they have a license. It was made for everyone to have something to do no matter your age.

"Wow, this place is beautiful," Smitty breathes out, taken aback at the sight of the gorgeous park. I have to bite back the urge to say "just like you." or some shit like that. Man, I am really gay. I stare at him for a second longer before turning to look at the scenery.

"Yeah, this park is breathtaking, and there's a lot of trails that you can take into the forest, it's great when the weather is nice," I say, and out of the corner of my eye I can see him nod. I start to walk in toward the playground, turning to make sure the Canadian was following me. Once we reach the playground I run over to the swings, sitting down and starting to pump my legs.

"What are you? A child?" Smitty stares with his arms crossed over his chest and a smirk on his face.

"Yes actually, I was born on February 29th and so I've technically only had about 7 birthdays," I say in the most serious voice I can muster, watching his face morph into something of an apologetic nature. He really is Canadian, goddamn.

"Wait seriously, that-"

"I'm kidding, you should have seen your face though, it was hilarious." I laugh and slow down on the swing, his face dropping slightly before he joins me in my laughter. I start to motion for him to come over to me. "Come on, it's fun and no one is here to judge us." Reluctantly he walks over to the other swing next to me and sits down, starting to pump his legs in a similar fashion to me, getting higher as he continued to move his legs.

"You know, I kinda forgot how fun it was to swing." He says as he starts getting higher and higher, me following.

"Yeah, sometimes you just need to relive your childhood to relax," I say, looking over to him, his eyes are closed and there's a smile on his face. I look forward again and start to push myself higher as if I were trying to reach the sky, trying to hold a cloud in my hand or touch a star in the night sky.

"As much as I love this, my legs are getting tired." He starts to slow down. His words snap me out of my trance and I realize that my legs were also feeling a bit like jello. I also start to slow down until we both come to a stop, still sitting in the swings. I go to say something but I'm cut off by an alarm coming from Smitty's phone, he pulls it out and his eyes widen. "I'm so sorry, I have to go, it was really nice meeting you though and we should play something together sometime. Bye." He starts walking back where we came from.

"Do you need a ride?" I call out to him and he turns with a relieved face.

"That would be awesome, thank you." I smile and nod, standing up and walking over to him. We walk back to the cafe where I had left my car, not talking. I want to ask him where he was going but I don't think it's much of my place to ask.

"So where are we headed?" I ask once we're both situated in the car.

"You can drop me off at 407 Stuner Road." I nod, knowing where that is before he told me.

"So you're working with Scott?" I ask, pulling out of the parking lot and starting to drive through the city.

"Yeah, do you know him?"

"We're friends and he plays video games with our group," I answer.

"How big is your group?" We come to a stop at a light and he turns to look at me.

"Well I have a few groups but the people you know so far here are all apart of the same group, so that's Evan, Tyler, Craig, and Scotty, there are a few other people that I'm sure you'll meet sometime." The light turns green and I start to drive again, keeping my eyes on the road. "And then I have some of my colleagues that I also play with and some people kind of mix with both groups so it's not really set boundaries." He nods along as I explain how all my friend groups work.

"That sounds, confusing I'm not gonna lie, but it also sounds like you have a lot of friends." He says.

"Yeah, I guess I have quite a few, but what's one more?" I glance in his direction and shoot him a smile. He smiles and looks forward to the cars in front of us.

"The more the merrier." I hear him let out a whisper of a chuckle and it makes me smile.


End file.
